November 06, 2008

So you get a pumpkin on your head, take off all the rest of your clothes and run down the street. Sounds like a good time to me! Not so fast:

Boulder police issued tickets to participants after the 10th annual Naked Pumpkin Run turned rowdy Friday night and those found guilty will have to register as sex offenders.

The Boulder Daily Camera reported about a dozen people were ticketed after the naked runners started just before 11 p.m.

In the Halloween tradition, runners gather at a house to carve out pumpkins. Later in the night, they meet at a secret location (usually a nearby empty parking garage) shed their clothes and streak Peal Street wearing the pumpkins over their heads. In past years, police mostly stood by as the crowd made its way up the popular pedestrian mall, but this year police managed to catch some before the run began.

"We wanted to do something before (the event) got out of hand," Police Chief Mark Beckner told the Camera. "This was a good opportunity to enforce the law."

It is things like this that make sex-offender lists so fucking stupid and useless. It reminds me of the 18 year old who got put on the list for receiving a BJ from his 17 year old girlfriend. Fucking ridiculous.

That list is supposed to be an early-warning system to parents that some mega-douche just moved into their neighborhood. Putting basically innocent people like this on the list waters down the value by making parents more inclined to ignore it.

But, I hear you ask, "How are we to determine which 'sexual crimes' belong and the list and which don't? Wouldn't be fair to put some on the list and leave others off."

If you need to ask that, I have a helmet and a pair of REALLY sharp scissors I'd like to hold onto.